Forum Feedback How to combat spam on TE?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Renegade

Renegade

Staff member
Mastermind
I completely agree with the following post by morgoth.

May be you did not get too much response because on TE I have seen (or was that in the past) that people rarely made post for the sake of posting. Unlike so many other forums (and now same is happening here), the posts on TE oozed quality.
Click to expand...
I have seen that the forums are transforming into a warez forum where people just post for the heck of it. Oh thanks.. what an awesome guide.. nice effort.. that hardware sucks.. I agree with others.. just to list a few.

Now we dont want that to happen to TE, do we? Well what do you suggest that should be done to control the spam. We also would like to control the posts which do not qualify as spam but do not add any damn value to the thread. Having an opinion and going off on a tangent is a good thing, as long as you have substance to support your claim.

If you say a particular hardware is good or better then at least tell the member why. Dishing out advice is good but you should also spend a few seconds on typing out why you said that.

I can say for myself that I have not been reading all the posts made on the forum for lack of time. The moderation is limited to just taking action on the reported posts.

What has improved though over the years is the fact that people now discuss sensitive issues in general talk with more maturity. Thanks to you all.

If handling this requires a section wise strategy then be it. If it requires screwing someone's happiness then be it. Happiness should not come from hitting the 'Submit Post' button. We require a game plan people. Pour in your thoughts.
 
Probably we can put in some learning techniques in TE's forum software that won't allow posting that seems rather generic. That learning techniques can be ofcourse controlled by mod. Apart from that I don't foresee changes in attitude of those folks who are here to gain access to the market.

My very few cents.

Yeah I would agree with the statement about the quality.

+LT
 
Ultimately, it all boils down to market access (at least in the majority of cases). In that context, I support hammerhead's (I think) view about having a separate domain for market, and then throwing it open for all. No post count restrictions.. "Trade at your own risk" type. Of course, members should be able to sign in to the market section with the same credentials as TE forums.

Within TE, we can then moderate and delete useless posts. Maybe, we can have a tag under each member's userid which lists the number of useless posts a member has made, if possible. That should discourage +1, I agree, type of posts.
 
But as far as market section access goes. The limit has been reduced considerably. We can even look at eliminating the post count limitation. That way you are not forced to post even if you are a dimwit.

EDIT - And no I dont think it is limited to market access. People who are well beyond that point are spamming much more. It is about your approach.
 
just diable showing the number of posts. The number is worth nothing but to show the seniority. By keeping the rep active, it will be effective to filter out members who contribute in effective manner.

Also, I am ready to volunteer to clean any such unnecessary posts.

removal of spam posts and disabling the post number can be effective and everyone will get used to posting only sane comments.

And put a restriction of 6 to 12 max number of replies to "Intro" threads.

and yes disintegraging market from Forum and making it a separate section will clear lot of clutter and make the Forum and Market as two separate entities with no relation to each other.
 
^^ Innovative yet useful suggestion regarding disabling the number of posts.. :) That should change the mindset about posting just for the sake of increasing post count.
 
possible to have option to include 'Post Quick Comment' along with 'Post Quick reply and' 'Go Advanced' ??!!

this way all can skip the comments and read through the thread faster if both posts and comments have differing form n colour.

comment shouldn't be considered posts and hence wil not have post count and reps.

it will motivate the people who actually want to make post to add to topic but get overlooked sometimes due to plethora of comments around.

also it will discourage people from making unnecessary posts, thus making the process into habit.
 
To be honest, its very very hard to maintain quality or should I say, expect high quality posts only on any public forum.

There are plenty of nutjobs even on forums like XS who post all kind of bs, 1 line posts, and stupid things.

You must ignore those and move on.

To improve or increase no of meaningful conversations / threads on any tech forums needs 2 things.

1. Interesting technology and

2. Quality original posts.

Rest everything will be mix of the good, the bad and garbage. Nothing much can be done about that. Not even disabling post count will help.

Dont we have enough nutcases who just post BS for the sake of annoying others? They dont do it for post count, they are just amusing themselves :P
 
the commenting about everything has become a habit because people feel friendly around each other...and sometimes they are just getting a life on TE... it doesn't sound bad from this POV if we think of TE as a community than just another tech forum. so baring people from not socializing would not be a great idea imo.

but we can sure make a visible difference between a post and a comment.

just something to consider if feasible.
 
On option is that users can reports such posts but that will only increase the work of the mods. I mean even if posts like I agree, +1 etc are reported then mods will have a tough time handling it.
 
I agree with madnav. Just enable a "like" and "comment" system, something like on facebook.Also automatically convert anything less than 25 chars to comment.Should clear out the mess.And yea if possible enable comments on replies to original posts as well.Will remove all those "LMAO (insert "10 chars" in white) " etc.
 
I believe that putting up a separate domain for TE's market is a logical choice and it will prevent a lot of problems, crowd control and spamming/thread crapping.

People initially exploited the 20 post (i think) count by putting up "+1" and "I agree". Now, they literally crap anybody's thread without even thinking. Dealers could have their own "dealer's customer support/feedback section" or something like that on TE forum if they want to provided it doesn't damage the essence of a discussion board. The last thing we want is TE loyalists to leave because of idiots.
 
The Sorcerer said:
I believe that putting up a separate domain for TE's market is a logical choice and it will prevent a lot of problems, crowd control and spamming/thread crapping.

People initially exploited the 20 post (i think) count by putting up "+1" and "I agree". Now, they literally crap anybody's thread without even thinking. Dealers could have their own "dealer's customer support/feedback section" or something like that on TE forum if they want to provided it doesn't damage the essence of a discussion board. The last thing we want is TE loyalists to leave because of idiots.
Click to expand...

This was tried, and it was a disaster. It hurt both market subdomain and forums during the short period this was tried.

Like I said, the stupid posts are not because of market. Its the current generation of ****** social networking addicts bringing their bad habits over to FORUM, add to that people who are just trolling for the sake of it, and nutjobs who are just amusing themselves.

Forum is a forum. People will come and leave, new people will come, and out of 100 new, hardly 10 odd will actually contribute anything to the community. Thats always the case with any growing forum and community.
 
raksrules said:
On option is that users can reports such posts but that will only increase the work of the mods. I mean even if posts like I agree, +1 etc are reported then mods will have a tough time handling it.
Click to expand...

I think each member should report any such post. We mods are more effective then you guys think :) besides, we will adding warnings/infractions which sorta generates a "history" for the member, which makes banning easier for mods.

Most of the nutjobs reduce their spam, after the infractions pileup leading to a temp ban, so yeah the method is effective.
 
And adding to what Aces said, if there are not enough hands onboard then we shall get more. That should not be a reason to not report the posts.
 
yup, but who is gonna hunt for such posts here 1 by 1?

Sure, some will be reported, but some will just go through moderation.

I am all for strict hammer :P I actually believe in stricter action for some usual repeated crap we handle day in and out :P

But then again, there are plenty who will crib about the strict moderation once again as usual. Its impossible to please everyone, and its about time we stopped trying to do so.

There is no point in adding 10 things to allegedly improve the quality of posts and loose the essence of a forum in process. A forum that does not look and feel like forum is not a forum. Adding comments, auto filtration, and other such things will do just that.

Yes, its irritating to watch such things, yes it sometimes annoys me, yes they dont add any value to discussion, but it happens..

These spammers, 1 line wonders never stick in memory, they come and after some days most of them go away on their own when they are bored :P
 
Agree to most points but there should be something to dissuade them too. As for going through all the posts, we have section mods. A gmod cannot go through all the posts on the forum but at least a section mod must go through all the posts in his section. If even that is not happening then it is a serious concern.
 
Shripad said:
This was tried, and it was a disaster. It hurt both market subdomain and forums during the short period this was tried.
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, for how long that was tried for? 1 week? Its pretty obvious that people will take a long time to get used to something and its obvious the initial opinions will be different.

In any case that section is grown way too big and way too chaotic.

Shripad said:
Like I said, the stupid posts are not because of market.
Click to expand...

Agreed, so let the mods be the judge, the jury and the executioner rather than following the infraction system.

If the mods find that a particular member/group of people is damaging the forums/section/particular discussions, rather than giving infraction points. Such people will bound to exploit the infraction system, banning them directly for a period of a week/month will stir things up.

Ofcourse this shouldn't be practiced regularly and it should be practiced only when the admin feels that the forum is going for a toss- something like "declaring national emergency". Implementing such "protocol" and giving such rights to the mods will flush out every nuisance in a week's time. In any case, such people will bound and end up coming to TE for advice.

Shripad said:
Its the current generation of ****** social networking addicts bringing their bad habits over to FORUM, add to that people who are just trolling for the sake of it, and nutjobs who are just amusing themselves.
Click to expand...

The hell with such habits. It is irrelevant with the forums. If the current generation have a habit of showing off their underwear on a tech forum, would you guys allow it?

Rules are made for everybody's convinience so they will have to follow it. Can't follow the rules and can't treat a forum as a forum rather than a chatroom, face the hammer! As simple as that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom